Maria Edgeworth grumbled against vandals who ruined immortal works by quoting the life out of them. "How far our literature may in future suffer from these blighting swarms, will best be conceived by a glance at what they have already withered and blasted of the favourite productions of our most popular poets." Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden, scissored, patched, and frayed.

Great quotation collections glean the millennia, distill essences, and battle for bragging rights about who’s bigger, who’s smarter, who’s best. Who-knows-who-said-what has a market, a history, and a hall of fame.

In phrases as brief as a breath worldly wisdom concentrates.

A little flattery, like a warm bath and soft towel, will let you get along with yourself, lie down with yourself, and sleep.

Quotations calcify into clichés.

Flattery works like a drug.

Quotations cause all kinds of trouble.